Children with autism prescribed mental illness medicine

28th June 2010

According to information received by the Western Mail, there has been an increase in the amount of autistic and hyperactive children given psychiatric medication.

More than 3,000 children are being given the drugs, say the three health boards who supplied information. Four health boards would not give information about how many children were being treated. Psychologist Professor Judy Hutchings, of Bangor University, said: "I’m reluctant to comment about the numbers though they do personally concern me. If you’ve got a challenging child obviously you want to find a solution for that child."